WUNRN
Engendering Access to Justice: Grassroots Women's Approaches to
Securing Land Rights
This new
community-based research study, involving 70 communities across seven African
countries, examines how grassroots women in Africa achieve justice in relation
to land disputes and gender-based violence, brought about by disinheritance and
gender discrimination.
Direct Link to Full 64-Page 2014
Report:
As the new Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) are drafted to determine global priorities for ending
poverty, the Huairou Commission and its partner organizations through the Women's
Land Link Africa (WLLA) launch a new community
empowerment-based research study highlighting grassroots women's approaches to
accessing justice, with a focus on land and property rights in Sub-Saharan
Africa. Engendering
Access to Justice: Grassroots Women's Approaches to Securing Land Rights
comes at a critical time, as rule of law and women's land rights are key themes
being debated this week at the United Nations during the 12th Session of the Open Working
Group on the Sustainable Development Goals (OWG12). The
study, featuring seven African countries- Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania,
Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe- showcases grassroots women's challenges in
securing their rights to land and effective
strategies to improve women's access to justice.
As participating organization Slum Women's Initiative for Development (SWID)
Uganda illustrates the link between land rights, empowerment and justice:
|
"Women's access to property is critical
for their economic security and for the economic security of their children.
When women own their own assets, they also have more independence and a
bigger role in decision-making in their households and communities. All this
helps improve the strength and prosperity of societies. " -Slum Women's Initiative for Development
(SWID), Uganda |
Unfortunately,
"around the world, women find obstacles in their way to owning
property. Long-standing traditions which put all land and property in the
hands of men, inadequate laws, ineffective courts and a lack of education
conspire against women's legitimate rights to assets. These traditions and
legal barriers often damage women, their families and development
efforts."
To address these
obstacles, grassroots women's groups have come up with strategies such as
community mapping exercises, Local-to-Local dialogues, working with diverse
stakeholders, developing community watchdogs and training community
paralegals. Increasingly, they are making an impact and gaining increased
recognition for their contributions to their
communities. Together grassroots women are demonstrating, as documented in
the new study, that women living in poverty are well organized and actively
engaged in the development of their communities.
Engendering
Access to Justice provides a strong evidence base that any
global development process must take the energy and resourcefulness of
organized groups of grassroots women into account when determining the design,
implementation, and monitoring of a new development agenda.
The twelve partner
organizations involved in this project are all members of Women's
Land Link Africa (WLLA), a collective action initiative on
African women's land and property rights that has been coordinated by the
Huairou Commission's Land and Housing Campaign and its local partners since
2004:
- Ntankah
Village Women's Initiative Group
- Grassroots
Sisterhood Foundation (GSF)
- GROOTS
Kenya
- Maasai
Women Development Organization (MWEDO)
- Action
for Women and Awakening in Rural Uganda (AWARE)
- Slum
Women's Initiative for Development (SWID)
- Uganda
Community Based Association for Women and Children's Welfare (UCOBAC)
- Katuba
Women's Association (KWASSOC)
- Ntengwe
for Community Development
- Ray
of Hope
- Seke
Rural Home Based Care
- Zimbabwe
Parents of Handicapped Children Association (ZPHCA)